Garden autumn tidy and gardening in containers

The autumn tidy is well underway on my plot with more and more bare soil becoming visible on the vegetable plot as crops are harvested and cleared and less and less blooms appearing across the flower beds. The leaves are beginning to fall from the Cherry tree and with the clocks having gone back a few days ago the nights are, of course, drawing in.

The outdoor tomatoes are long since finished and those in the Greenhouse also now cleared away and composted replaced with the Agapanthus in pots that will overwinter under the cover of glass. With the relatively warm weather we had in September, and at times almost monsoon-like bouts of rain, the runner bean plants were still producing into October and I actually ate the last of the fresh picked beans in the first week of November. Those plants have also now been cleared and composted. An entire 'Dalek' bin of compost has been added to that bed. once it was weeded, with some manure to be added yet. The bed will then be left to rest for winter.

I cut back the foliage on my strawberry plants a few weeks ago and they have grown back with a vengeance in the warm wet weather. I actually have strawberries forming on the plants again in November! I am not quite sure what to do as I have never had strawberries ripening in November before. The temptation is to leave them and see if they ripen........I will have to do a little searching online as my head tells me I should cut the forming fruits off, but my heart wants to leave them and see if I can get a crop!

It is that time of year when the hardier vegetables come into their own. The Savoy Cabbages I sowed in pots in late spring before transplanting to the bed that had onions on earlier in the season are coming along nicely. They will sit on the plot until required and won’t be bothered by whatever weather autumn and winter brings. I also have parsnips in the ground, which will also stay where they are until needed along with a carrot variety called ‘Carrot Eskimo’ which I have grown before and as the name suggests are winter hardy. I have known these carrots to be under a thick blanket of snow before now and come out of the ground fresh and tasty making them a great variety to grow and easy to store as you can simply leave them on the plot until required; saves all the blanching and freezing. 

With the simple fact that many of the people reading this are likely limited with the space in which they can garden I thought I would take a look at gardening in containers. Many newbuilds have small gardens and in a day and age in London where space is of a premium many are living in flats and apartments where a balcony is the only outdoor space available to them. Pots and containers are ideal for these situations. 

Agapanthus are amongst my favourite of plants, easy to look after and they provide a wonderful display in summer in the right conditions. They naturally grow in Southern Africa and as such actually like and thrive being grown in pots in well draining, gritty soil in a sunny position. They will require protection in winter in a frost-free place, ideally sheltered from the worst of the winter rains. Annuals are perfect for growing in pots and allow you to change your display each year, or even a couple of times in the same growing season. Marigolds and Geraniums are easy to grow and a few pots full of these soon fill a space with colour. I often add a little Ivy to pots, as well as the main plant, adding a little extra to the appearance of your display with the Ivy tumbling down the outside of the pot with the main plant in full bloom above. 

Gardeners often talk of a ‘thriller, filler and spiller’ planting scheme for pots. Your ‘thriller’ is the main display perhaps a Salvia, the ‘filler’ being the plants that literally fill the space below the main plant, maybe Dianthus that will flower for weeks on end and the ‘spiller’ being the plant that spills down the outside of the pot; as mentioned above perhaps Ivy or a trailing Petunia. If the area where your pot is going to be placed is in the shade a Hosta underplanted with small Ferns and or Ivy offers year round interest. 

The Christmas potato experiment mentioned previously appears to be going well. Now the tomato plants have been cleared from the Greenhouse and the potatoes in the 30-litre pots have been moved into there with the Agapanthus to keep them frost free. My fingers are crossed there are plenty of spuds forming under the soil.  

Cheers 🍺